#4. Korean Barbecue

Well it only took me a week to recover from all the visitors I had, and now I am a week behind. Add to that packing up nearly two years worth of stuff, surprise parent-teacher conferences, the impending return of the middle school students from their midterm exams, and having to say some pretty sad goodbyes, and you'd almost be where I'm at now. ^^

#4. Korean Barbecue

I've been trying hard to keep the food posts to a minimum--mostly because writing about food just makes me hungry--but sometimes you just have to throw one in there. And Korean barbecue really is one of the great things about living in Korea.

There are many kinds of Korean barbecue, and you can find these restaurants anywhere there is more than three apartment buildings in close proximity (read: everywhere). It's hard to walk down the street and not notice the smell of grilling meat wafting through the air. And with so many kinds to choose from, you could eat a different kind of barbecue every night of the week! Galbi, the marinated beef short ribs, is the most common and often the cheapest, while samgyeopsal, which is glorified thick pieces of bacon, tends to be a little more pricey. I've also had dahk galbi (kind of like a barbecued chicken), dweji bulgogi (spicy marinated pork), and even one memorable night where my Korean friend convinced me to try gopchang (pig intestine) and vowed never to eat something from that part of a pig again. Depending on your budget--and sense of wild adventure--there are a number of types of meat you could enjoy.

Korean barbecue (as with most Korean cuisine) is served with an absurdly large number of tasty side dishes that I have also come to love. There are a number of sauces you can dip the meat in, usually a kimchi of some kind, a salad, and at least one strange kind of radish that no foreigner will touch but the Koreans will devour. You can also order others like kimchi jjigae, which is a type of spicy kimchi stew that stinks up the whole table but tastes great. My favorite galbi restaurant also serves giant carrot sticks that I like to much on. After cooking the meat on the grill, you usually drop it on one of the many green leafy vegetables they provide you and stuff the thing full of ssamjang (fermented bean paste mixed with red pepper paste), some rice, and whatever other side dishes you feel like and pop the whole thing in your mouth. It can get a little messy, but between the meat and the side dishes, you are pretty much guaranteed to have a good meal.

I've been told by some foreigners that they see no point in having to go to a restaurant where you have to cook your own food, but I've never really had a problem with it. Perhaps this is because no one will ever let me actually do the cooking (I swear I won't eat it all!), but in any case, its is one of the best and consistently delicious meals I've ever had. I mean, is it possible no enjoy barbecue?